In the past, I've mostly glossed over the process of building the guts inside a carcass to house the drawers and allow them to slide in and out easily without racking. For this episode, I decided to focus on the construction of the runners, kickers, doublers, and spacers to house the drawers. This is another part of quality furniture that can subtly demonstrate quality craftsmanship. While most people will never actually see the inside of the carcass, they may open and close the drawers thousands of times. In fact, in many ways drawers are the most "interactive" parts of furniture. This episode goes through the construction method and process I used for the desk. I also unveil my top secret weapon for handing "roll up your sleeves" jobs like web frames and carcass interiors.
9 comments:
Rob,
Great video as always. I truly enjoy your show. It provides endless entertainment and priceless instruction. I anxiously await each new post. Quick question. In the video you join the middle runners with a stub tenon. I was just wondering how you went about making the mortises since the carcass had already been assembled and given that the front face is curved. Thanks again for all your efforts.
Rich Friess
Another great video Rob. 2 questions, do you really need two doublers on each side , wouldn't one (either top, bottom, or middle) do the trick ?
2) Is there a concern that the the runners with stub tennons will exert backward pressure on the case if they are joined with the front rail that may expand albeit slightly with weather changes ?
Runningwood
Great video. This is very helpful to those of us just learning how this stuff is done. One quick question are half laps glued or just floating
A few questions to answer here (thanks all of you for your great comments). First, in practice I should have cut the mortises behind the front rails before I cut the curve, but didn't. I just used the cutoff to support the piece while chopping the mortises with a combination of the drill press and a chisel. I did this before gluing up the carcass. The doublers can be a single wide piece, but that tends to waste stock, so I use two smaller pieces to support just the top and bottom (and minimize friction). The runners don't create a wood movement problem, since wood moves mostly perpendicular to the grain, and not with the grain. The runners will not expand back into the case. And lastly, the half laps were glued together. I shot video of the process, but I had to cut that part out as this one was running long. I just used a dab of glue and spring clamps to do the glue-up.
I'm loving this build, Rob. The book matching on the drawer front's is beautiful. I can't wait to see finish on them. Man, I've GOT to get me some cargo pants. That IS your secret, right?!? :o)
Vic, thanks for the comments. And yes, cargo pants are the key!
As always Rob,you produced a great video.. I do have one question regarding the possible hidden message of your T-Shirt. We you, by virtue of having a few day's facial foliage, implying that you reside somewhere on the evolutionary trail between homo-erectus and a skilled woodworker?
Bruce, I'm very impressed you deciphered my subtle hidden message with the t-shirt and stubble. The cargo pants were just there as a red herring - nicely done
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